"UNDER THE SMOGBERRY TREES: The True Story of Dr. Demento"

$118,722

1,764

"Dr. Demento has kept my career alive for many years!" -- Stan Freberg, all around demented genius & legend.

"I think it's a great idea, and it's about time somebody was 'smart' enough to do a feature doc on Barry!" -- Artie Barnes of Barnes & Barnes, artists behind "Fish Heads".

"A project like this is long overdue." -- Whimsical Will from "The Demented News", heard weekly on The Dr. Demento Show."

"Dr. Demento is an institution who has uniquely championed the history of novelty music and the creators. A film that also shows his serious musicologist roots should be quite interesting" -- Harold Bronson, co-founder of Rhino Records

"UNDER THE SMOGBERRY TREES" will be an engaging filmed history of “The Dr. Demento Show” from its humble start at revolutionary radio station KPPC-FM in Pasadena, CA and up to date at DrDemento.com, covering the lasting impact of funny music on popular culture, and including current interviews with Dementites (the famous and the nearly famous) connected to and/or inspired by the show over its four decades and counting.

It also serves as the definitive profile of Dr. Demento's alter ego, the globally respected musicologist
and historian Barret Hansen. Through stories told in his own words, it will follow Mr. Hansen from his 1940's Minneapolis
childhood, to Reed College in Portland, through his Master’s degree in Folk Music Studies from
UCLA, and on to donning the heavy top hat of Dr. Demento in 1970 and carrying
it into the Comedy Music AND Radio Halls of Fame!

The film is being produced with the full participation of Barry Hansen. He is allowing us to get you a very rare glimpse at both the professional and private man, and see how it is indeed difficult to know where the tuxedo tails begin and where they end. Barry will tell us stories of his early motivations and inspirations, the history of his musical impact (including his rock band producing days in the 60's), as well as taking us all into his massive music library (over 250,000 records and counting!) and to his home studio, where he produces The Dr. Demento Show to this day!

The style of the film will be more conversational (no disembodied narrator), allowing Barry and his friends to tell their own stories in their own words. Several of the stories will be featured with all new original animation by us, in various artistic styles. Of course, it's all set to the Demented soundtrack you would naturally expect!

We are currently negotiating things with many of the Dr. Demento Show legends for their involvement in the film, and have built a tremendous list of people kind enough to let us announce their involvement here. So far we are very proud to present the following participants:

Barry Hansen (Dr. Demento!!)

Barnes & Barnes ("Fish Heads")

Bill Frenzer ("Dead Puppies")

Tom "T-Bone" Stankus ("Existential Blues")

Whimsical Will ("The Demented News")

Sulu ("Locked in the Closet With You")

MC Lars ("Dementia Revolution")

The Great Luke Ski ("When You Wish Upon a Death Star")

Grant Baciocco of Throwing Toasters ("Nursery Rhyme Lawyer Song")

Devo Spice ("In the 80's")

Chris Mezzolesta of Power Salad ("My Cat is Afraid of the Vacuum Cleaner")

Insane Ian ("Guitar Hero")

Rapid T. Rabbit (Star of "THE RAPID T. RABBIT SHOW" in NYC)

Richard Cheese (Lounge Against the Machine)

We also aim to speak to members of The Dr. Demento Show's "Cast" over the years, such as Musical Mike, Jovial Joan, Beeffalo Bill, and many more, plus several producers and disc jockeys who worked close to the legend over the decades, as well as Barry's longtime friend and manager, world famous astrologer Arthyr Chadbourne.

As we all live in Southern California, most of the film will be shot in the Los Angeles area, the location of the original Smogberry Trees! We also plan to travel across the country to meet and film all your favorite Demented Artists giving their two cents about Barry and the influence of his show.

Add all this to memories and allegations from friends and family, beautiful and rarely seen (if ever!) archival footage,
and many more unique surprises to come!

We have been hard at work on this project for several months now, without any financing outside our own pockets, and have already collected tons of personal photographs, hours of home video footage, and first hand accounts from the people who are a part of the continuing history of The Dr. Demento Show. Support from Barry Hansen, his friends, featured artists and co-workers has been absolutely amazing and unending. They want to see this movie as badly as you do.

We begin filming at the beginning of Summer 2013, and hope to have the film finished entirely in the middle part of 2014. From there, we hope to get it into some festivals and competitions across the country. After that, the film will hopefully receive a theatrical run and eventually move onto DVD, iTunes, Netflix, etc.

Let’s celebrate the music we all grew up with as we FINALLY get to know
the Man Beneath the Top Hat, who has served it to us on a black platter every weekend
in “UNDER THE SMOGBERRY TREES!”

Make sure you also check out our official movie website at www.underthesmogberrytrees.com to find more info, to see more pictures of the items we have featured as rewards, or to follow us on Facebook and Twitter! Don't forget to tell all your demented little buddies about us and help get this movie made!

And most important of all, don't forget to STAAAAY DEEEEEMENTED!!!!

Risks and challenges

Meep Morp Studio is an independent Animation/Graphic Design studio in Southern California that has built a steady reputation for top notch quality while meeting tight creative deadlines since 2009. The three members of Meep Morp Studio are Scott McKenzie, Christy McDonald, and Devin Lucas. This is the creative team that will be taking you into the heart of the Land of Dementia. www.meepmorp.com

As our first all "in-house" feature film, this project is very ambitious for us, but we know we are ready to take it on (and so does Barry Hansen!). We are at an advantage here as we can do so much of our film using equipment and programs we already have at our fingertips for our business, as well as our experience working on contract with six other feature-length documentaries.

We are asking for this $100,000 amount after a lot of planning, scheduling and budgeting, knowing that we can start production and clear our way through the shooting stage of our movie with it.

The costs for the upcoming stages (pre-production and production) are going to include legal and bookkeeping costs, some equipment upgrades to make this project look and sound as great as we can for you, purchasing certain essential research items, hotel/airfare/car rental for going to the locations of your favorite Demented Artists, the costs of shooting permits and locations in Los Angeles, the general cost of gas getting around Los Angeles (traffic can kill a budget!), meager living costs to allow us to survive with electricity as we work exclusively 24/7 on this film, as well as paying for the very valuable time of people we interview. The time for this film is NOW and we don't want to be delivering the finished project in five years. Your donations allow us to focus just on getting "Under the Smogberry Trees" ready for you.

We also hope to get you some fantastic and unique rewards as contributing Dementites and Dementoids, and while we are going as minimal on cost as we possibly can, this certainly plays into our budget.

We are also giving some wiggle room for unexpected expenses and accidents. Don't let one unavoidable camera accident cost us completing the film, for example.

There will be additional costs after production has wrapped for various parts of post-production that may not be covered by the amount we are asking for now, such as the high expense of music and video licensing (which we cannot do without).

Once everything has been finished, you will really be able to see, hear, and possibly even SMELL, every red cent spent on this.

Support

Reward no longer available

Pledge $1 or more
About $1.00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DR. DEMENTO! Anyone who pledges any amount of $1 or more within the first 24 hours of our project being launched will get their names handwritten on a birthday card that will be delivered to Dr. Demento personally. This is a ONE DAY ONLY deal to let Dr. Demento know you care. Anyone who contributes after the first 24 hours of our campaign will NOT receive this offer. People who choose this reward on the first day will receive a pic of Dr. Demento reading his card sent to their email as soon as its delivered. THIS OFFER IS NO LONGER VALID BEYOND 12:00 PM PACIFIC TIME, APRIL 4th!

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Pledge $3 or more
About $3

Full access to our Exclusive DEMENTED production blog! Don't be left out! Read our progress, see our exclusive pictures & videos, and impress your friends by how "in" you are with Dr. Demento. (This reward will also be included in any donation amount above this price point.)

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Pledge $5 or more
About $5

BIRTHDAY MESSAGE TO DR. DEMENTO! Anyone choosing this reward within the first 24 hours of our project being launched will get their names handwritten on the birthday card as well as a message of up to 5 words from you. This is a ONE DAY ONLY deal to let you tell Dr. Demento how much ya love him. Anyone who contributes after the first 24 hours of our campaign will NOT receive this offer. You must select this reward to receive the 5 words. Other rewards will not count towards this. People who choose this reward on the first day will receive a pic of Dr. Demento reading his card sent to their email as soon as its delivered. Also, keep your comments demented, but keep 'em classy too. We will discard anything we find offensive. THIS OFFER IS NO LONGER VALID BEYOND 12:00 PM PACIFIC TIME, APRIL 4th!

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Pledge $12 or more
About $12

Old School IRON-ON TRANSFERS of your favorite Doctor! 2 unique styles are available. We will ask by email which design tickles your funny bone the most, and you will soon be re-living that glorious childhood realization of "Hmmm, it came out a lil crooked."

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Pledge $20 or more
About $20

POWER SALAD CD! Chris Mezzolesta of demented group Power Salad has offered up not 1, not 2, but 7 different AUTOGRAPHED Power Salad CD's to choose from! There will be 10 copies available for each album, and the titles include Force Doesn't Work on a Crustacean, The White-Out Album, Power Salad 3: Sweat Equity, Cinnamony Sea Anemone, Love With a Side of Fries, Power Salad LIVE: Warts 'n' All and Snibbics! The Uncollected Power Salad. Just select the album you want from the list, and let us know the title by messaging us here so we can keep track of individual quantities. For details on the individual track listings, please go to www.powersalad.com/products-page/

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About $20

WORM QUARTET'S "SONGS OF THE MANIACS" on CD! Shoebox of Worm Quartet has contributed 10 AUTOGRAPHED copies of his recent album, "Songs of the Maniacs"! The disc has 16 tracks, including The Ballad of Doctor Stopp, The Laundromat of Sin, Less Than Three, My Apologies, Standing on the Shoulders of Freaks, AND MORE!!! As an added bonus, Shoebox says he will include a photo of himself licking a stapler in the direction of the contributor's choice (back to front OR front to back). Can't beat that!!!

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Pledge $25 or more
About $25

DR. DEMENTO PARTY PACK! A grab bag of bells & whistles and noisemakers, as well as the official Dr. Demento kazoo and whoopie cushion! Wake the neighbors up to let them know The Dr. Demento Show is starting!

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About $25

A SIX MONTH, LEVEL 1 SUBSCRIPTION TO theFuMP.com! The Funny Music Project is offering for you to get all the high quality downloads from the site, including all the songs in their archive, their high quality RSS feeds, and the digital compilations in their store for 6 months! This is a roughly $10 savings off of the site price.

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Pledge $30 or more
About $30

Choose from two different styles of vintage recreations of Dr. Demento t-shirts: The 1975 logo in full color, or the "Pico & Sepulveda" design inspired by the Doc's theme song! Sizes S, M, L, XL available. (Images of choices below)

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About $30

THE DEMENTO INTERVIEWS!! Only available by donating here, you will get a CD with original artwork containing over an hour of interview highlights from THE DR. DEMENTO SHOW! The Doc has had a lot of amazing artists visit him under the smogberry trees over the decades, and now you can re-live those moments hearing what they had to say over the radio. Among the artists Dr. Demento has interviewed that will be included here are “Weird Al” Yankovic, Stan Freberg, Frank Zappa, Tom Lehrer, Mel Brooks, Tom Waits, Mel Blanc, Fred Blassie, Tiny Tim, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Shel Silverstein, George Carlin, Cheech & Chong, Julie Brown, Spinal Tap, various members of Monty Python, and more surprises! This will NEVER be available commercially, so be sure to snag it while you are here!

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Pledge $40 or more
About $40

LIMITED EDITION!! An "Under the Smogberry Trees" poster designed by Meep Morp Studio, with a TOTALLY DIFFERENT DESIGN from the "theatrical release" poster mentioned above. This version will ONLY be available this one time, just for Kickstarter!

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About $40

DIGITAL COPY of the completed film on a TOP HAT SHAPED FLASH DRIVE! We are pretty sure this is the first time a movie has been distributed via Top Hat. (Image of flash drive below is subject to slight change.)

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About $40

The FuMP 2012 FLASH DRIVE! This USB drive features all of the funny music released on theFuMP.com in 2012. It features high quality digital albums of Volumes 31 thru 36 from the site, including the bonus video content and high resolution artwork. This is a $10 savings off the purchase of the USB drive from their webstore!

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Pledge $50 or more
About $50

HELP KEEP DEMENTIA ALIVE! Become a member of The Dr. Demento Fan Club, circa 1975! We are offering a complete recreation of the original Fan Club package kit provided to lucky Dementites in 1975! Includes one T-Shirt (the "Vintage" Demento logo), a glossy B&W 8X10 of our good Doctor in 1975, and the official "Doctorate of Dementia" certificate, lovingly recreated and still hand signed by Dr. Demento himself!!!! For good measure, while you wait for your kit to arrive, we will email you an mp3 of an authentic radio advertisement from 1975 for the very membership kit you will receive! Unless you are reading this in 1975, this is the ONLY way to ever get this rare offer. (NOTE: "Doctorate of Dementia" does not allow you to perform acts of surgery...but that's never stopped you before.)

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About $50

TOP HAT FLASH DRIVE DIGITAL GRAB BAG! You will recieve the top hat flash drive loaded with all sorts of Demented goodies, including Videos, Trailers, Photos, Flash Games, Unseen Footage, and so much more! Individual content will vary (way too much material for just 1 flash drive!), but all are gauranteed to come with a digital download of the completed film and a special THANK YOU from Dr. Demento. (Image of flashdrive below is subject to slight change.)

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About $50

RHINO'S CRUISE THROUGH THE BLUES by BARRY HANSEN!!! You will get a copy of this introduction to the Blues written by Barry Hansen (NOT as Dr. Demento)! The 208-page 9x9 glossy paperback, published by Miller Freeman in 2000 is an OUT OF PRINT first edition, and your copy will be pristine, uncirculated, and Barry will AUTOGRAPH it TWICE, as author Barry Hansen AND as Dr. Demento!! There is no better way to learn about the Blues and its legendary performers than from the master of music himself. Also includes a Forward by B.B. King! Order now! There will not be any more of these when they are gone!

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Pledge $100 or more
About $100

Your name in a special credit at the end of the finished film as a "DEMENTITE" or "DEMENTOID"! Your choice! Shout your Dementia to the whole world! (This reward will also be included in all donations ABOVE this price mark, but ONLY if requested.)

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Pledge $100 or more
About $100

Get a LIMITED EDITION "Under the Smogberry Trees" 2-Disc BLU RAY!! On top of having the full movie in beautiful Hi-Def, this edition will also get a bonus DVD filled with bonus footage, deleted scenes, and sooooo much more. As if that weren't enough, we'll get Dr. D to sign it too!

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Pledge $100 or more
About $100

DR. DEMENTO SAYS YOUR NAME "ON THE AIR"!! Dr. Demento himself will thank you by name for donating to Kickstarter on an upcoming episode of THE DR. DEMENTO SHOW at drdemento.com! All of his listeners will know YOU are a part of demented history! Date of episode TBD, but we will let you know when to listen for your shout out.

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Pledge $150 or more
About $150

DEMENTO’S MEMENTOS PICTURE-DISC VINYL!! Dr. Demento has given us 5 SEALED LP copies of his 1982 album, “Demento’s Mementos” from his world famous record collection! Each one is the RARE picture-disc edition that was never largely circulated. To make it even sweeter, the Doc is offering your choice of his signature on a separate Certificate of Authenticity for collectors, or he can open the seal and sign the cover or actual picture disc for you! Each LP has very slight shelf wear on cover, but each is also sealed since 1982 and all LP’s are in PERFECT MINT CONDITION! You can add-on to this item, but you MUST select this as your reward choice to insure you get it. Only 5 available means if you don’t select this as your reward before the extremely limited quantity runs out, you will be left without one.

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Pledge $200 or more
About $200

The 2 Disc Blu Ray (signed by Dr. D!!!), any T-shirt of your choice, an iron on transfer of your choice, stickers, the kazoo, the "limited edition" poster (also signed, but by Dr. D and the filmmakers).

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Pledge $200 or more
About $200

Ever wanna let Dr. Demento know what the voices in your head are saying? Here is your chance! A lucky, and small, number of Dementites and Dementoids will get access to a full one hour social video conferrence with none other than the Doc of Dementia. Act fast and make sure you get in on this very exlusive party invite. (Date of actual chat T.B.D.).

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Pledge $250 or more
About $250

DEMENTIA ROYALE: The 2 Disc Blu Ray (signed by Dr. D!!!), any T-shirt of your choice, an iron on transfer of your choice, stickers, the kazoo, the "limited edition" poster (also signed, but by Dr. D, the filmmakers, and maybe a surprise or two). And as if that wasn't enough, access to the One Hour LIVE VIDEO CONFERENCE with Dr. Demento! Basically the exact same deal as above, but with the conference thrown in for only $50. Better grab this while there is still room.

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Pledge $500 or more
About $500

DELUXE DEMENTO SOCIETY! Announcing the first authorized DR. DEMENTO boxed set since 1985! For your donation, you will receive membership to the current Dr. Demento fan club, “The Demento Society” for one year, and all the swag that entails: 1 personalized Dr. Demento autographed photo, a bumper sticker, a button, a membership card, a “Demento Airlines” ticket pouch, and a CD of DR. DEMENTO’S BASEMENT TAPES #17! And if you join as part of this EXCLUSIVE offer from Meep Morp & Dr. Demento himself, you will also receive it all in a NEW BOXED SET containing ALL 17 VOLUMES of the out-of-print BASEMENT TAPES!!!! Each CD contains over an hour of Demented hits & classics, INCLUDING 13 UNRELEASED “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC TRACKS!!!!!!! All this in a brand new specially designed box just for this one time release. If you were lucky enough to find all of these used on eBay, the total cost would be over $1000. We are offering All 17 BASEMENT TAPE CD’s, BRAND NEW, and WITH THE YEAR MEMBERSHIP AND SPIFFY NEW BOX for roughly half of its actual value. To make it sweeter, these discs are from DR. DEMENTO’S ACTUAL BASEMENT!!! (Okay, his garage, but The Doc lives in Southern California, so give us a break.) There has never been a better time to join!

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Pledge $750 or more
About $750

“UNDER THE SMOGBERRY TREES” WORLD PREMIERE TICKET AND V.I.P. AFTER PARTY! You will receive ONE autographed ticket to the premiere of the movie in Sunny Southern California, as well one VIP ticket to the private AFTER PARTY!! Plus, we will throw in a kazoo, sticker set, postcard set, theatrical poster, DVD of the finished film and your choice of T-Shirt (No extra $$ for XXL) to wear to the demented shindig! !! (Date and location of Premiere and After Party TBD, and does not include cost of airfare, hotel, food, or car rental)

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Pledge $1,000 or more
About $1,000

TWO TICKETS to THE “UNDER THE SMOGBERRY TREES” WORLD PREMIERE AND V.I.P. AFTER PARTY!! You will receive TWO autographed tickets to the premiere of the movie in Sunny Southern California, as well as 2 V.I.P. tickets to the AFTER PARTY, 2 kazoo’s, 2 sticker sets, 2 postcard sets, 2 theatrical posters, 2 DVD’s, and 2 T-Shirt choices (No extra $$ for XXL)!! This is a major discount on a ticket to this party to have a friend or family member tag along to take pictures of you to prove you were actually there!!! (Date and location of Premiere and After Party TBD, and does not include cost of airfare, hotel, food, or car rental)

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Pledge $5,000 or more
About $5,000

DINNER WITH THE DOC! If you can get yourself to Southern California on time, we will not only give you two tickets to the World Premiere of "Under the Smogberry Trees," and admission to the after party, but you will also get to have a resturaunt dinner with the filmmakers and DR. DEMENTO HIMSELF before the premiere! (does not include airfare, hotel, or car rental. Plus, The Doc gets to pick where ya eat.) Also includes all the rest of the swag, including the video chat! Date T.B.D.

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Pledge $5,000 or more
About $5,000

GUIDED TOUR THROUGH THE LAND OF DEMENTIA! That’s right, YOU AND A FRIEND will be given an EXCLUSIVE driving tour of “Demented” locations in LOS ANGELES, CA with DR. DEMENTO HIMSELF AS YOUR PRIVATE TOUR GUIDE!!! Destinations will include places like the famous Pico and Sepulveda intersection, the former home of KMET (where THE DR. DEMENTO SHOW was broadcast live) and the former home of Westwood One (where THE DR. DEMENTO SHOW was recorded for syndication), as well as many more spots both famous and personal. The tour will be filmed for use in the actual finished film, “UNDER THE SMOGBERRY TREES”, so bring some questions for The Doc along and you can be IN THE MOVIE!! (Date of tour TBD, and does not include cost of airfare, hotel, or car rental) Don’t forget to bring your own camera for some VERY UNIQUE photo opportunities of you and Dr. Demento!

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Pledge $10,000
About $10,000

THE GREATEST NOVELTY FANS OF ALL TIME: Every scrap of swag mentioned above, all autographed when applicable, access to the Doc's video chat, four tickets to the premiere and party, (we do NOT provide airfare, hotel, food, or car rental), AND an "Executive Producer" credit on the finished film and the IMDB page. It just does not get any more DEEEEEEEEmented than this!